[LIVING FOREST COSTA RICA] Public-Private Alliance
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Directorate of Development and Marketing of Environmental Services BOSQUE VIVO COSTA RICA [LIVING FOREST COSTA RICA] Public-Private Alliance Presentation The Forestry Act, N°7575, published in 1996, bestows upon FONAFIFO [Spanish acronym for "National Forestry Financing Fund"], the responsibility of collecting financial resources for the payment of environmental services in forest ecosystems and forest plantations (article 46…), and defines, in article 3, four categories of environmental services that have a direct impact on the protection and improvement of the environment, which are: a) mitigation of greenhouse gases (set, reduce, capture, store, and absorb); b) protection of water for urban, rural or hydroelectric use; c) protection of biodiversity, for its conservation; sustainable, scientific and pharmaceutical use; and for genetic research and improvement, protection of ecosystems, lifeforms; d) natural scenic beauty for tourism and scientific purposes The key characteristic of PES agreements is to preserve a specific environmental “service”, such as clean water, the habitat of biodiversity, or the capture of carbon. According to Wunder (2006), the most innovative feature of PES is its conditioning principle, that is to say, that payments are only made if the service is actually offered. This is what sets it apart from other conservation tools. To guarantee the continuity of the environmental services, the regular and transparent verification of the actions of sellers are required by the transactions. The main sources of financing of FONAFIFO’s program are the 3.5% tax on fuels, and the 25% Fee on the Exploitation of Water (Decree N°332868-MINAE, 2006). According to article 69 of the Forestry Act, tax in fuels should be used on programs to compensate owners of forests and tree farms, in consideration of the environmental services they offer to offset greenhouse gases, protect and developing biodiversity. In the case of the Fee, the PES are to be allocated in privately-owned properties located in areas that have been deemed important for the confirmed sustainability of the hydrological regime, in accordance to the criteria defined in the National Plans and Programs that govern this matter. Article 15 of this Decree provides that once the criteria to allocate economic resources under the PES Program are issued, the priority should be to protect the sources destined for the supply of drinking water for the population, both for public and private entities; especially those managed by the ASADAS [Aqueduct and Sewer Management Associations, by its Spanish acronym]. The PES Program pays the same max amount for the activities included within the current modes to recover and maintain forest coverage, and with the collected Fees, allocates an additional 25% to the PES amount - for the protection of forests in priority areas (PES - water resource). Nevertheless, article 63 of the Rules for the Forestry Act opens the opportunity for this institution to establish, in favor of beneficiaries, differentiated amounts for the payment of environmental Bosque Vivo Costa Rica: Proyecto Osa Page 1 of 12 services, according to the area, mode, and supply and demand, whenever deemed convenient and appropriate. Considering several instruments of legislation (1), the AICHI biodiversity targets, the National Biodiversity Policy, the National Biodiversity Strategy, and the collaboration of FONAFIFO to execute the National Ecological Monitoring Program, pursuant to Decree N° 39747-MINAE-2016, the Directorate of Development and Marketing of Environmental Services, pursuant to its incorporation objective and the functions described in Resolution 536-MINAE- 2007, started in OSA the pilot Project Bosque Vivo [Living Forest in English], with the objective of generating knowledge to develop mechanisms and instruments focused on the conservation of biodiversity through the use of PES. The specific objectives of the project are: 1) Generate institutionally viable methodologies to detect wildlife present under any PES agreements. 2) Develop tools that facilitate the comparison of richness in different locations, based on information available at a global, national and local level. 3) Create participative experiences at different scales, in biological monitoring processes. 4) Offer the private sector an opportunity to invest in the payment of environmental services to protect biodiversity, which contributes valuable results for the development of disclosure actions. (1) Article 69 of the Forestry Act, the Prioritization Policies and Criteria for the 2016-2021 PES Program (Decree N°39660-MINAE-2016), as well as commitments that the country has undertaken under Treaties it has signed and ratified, such as CITES (Act 5605), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (Act 7416), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Act 8586), the Official List of Threatened, Endangered and Reduced Species (Resolution SINAC-92-2017) Bosque Vivo Costa Rica: Proyecto Osa Page 2 of 12 Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve, Puntarenas, Costa Rica The Living Forest of Osa Project is located in the Osa Peninsula, specifically in the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve. The Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve [from here on out referred to as the “GDFR”] is located within the Osa Conservation Area [ACOSA, its Spanish acronym] of the National System of Conservation Areas [SINAC, its Spanish acronym]. It connects Corcovado National Park, Piedras Blancas National Park and the Térraba Sierpe National Wetland (Figure 1). From a political geography stance, it is located in the counties of Golfito and Osa, in the province of Puntarenas, coordinates CRTM05 928 167 North / 580 974 East and 976 269 North / 529 882 East. It should be noted that the Corcovado National Park has been declared by National Geographic as the most biologically intense area in the world. Figure 1. Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve and surrounding and nearby protected wildlife areas (ACOSA, 2018). Bosque Vivo Costa Rica: Proyecto Osa Page 3 of 12 The Reserve was created by means of Executive Decree N° 8494-A in 1978, modified by means of DE 9388-A, of that same year and DE 10142-A of 1979. The GDFR is made up of 1,282 properties that officially measure 60,000 hectares. Its coverage includes 49,512 hectares of basal tropical rainforest and 1,185 hectares of cloud forest in the higher regions of the Brujo and Chocuaco hills, 220 hectares of flooded forests (palm swamps and mangroves), rivers, creeks, permanent and temporary bodies of water, low scale crop plantations, industrial oil palm plantations, and pasturelands (figure 2). Figure 2. Land coverage and use. Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve (SINAC, 2018). Lowland rainforests are known for having an evergreen canopy with heights that range between 30 and 50 meters. These are forests that have several layers, are dense, and have a closed canopy. In the Caribbean they start at the San Juan River, in the Nicaraguan border, and extend all the way Bosque Vivo Costa Rica: Proyecto Osa Page 4 of 12 south to the Sixaola River, in the Panamanian border, while in the Pacific they are only present in the country’s southernmost area, in the Osa Peninsula and the Golfo Dulce (figure 3). This type of forest is fundamental for the provision of key ecosystem services, mainly those linked to the supply of water, timber-yielding and non-timber-yielding products, and climate and hydrologic regulation. These are fragile habitats that are very sensitive to farming, overgrazing, and excessive burning due to climate conditions and the characteristics of their soil. Figure 3. Distribution of the tropical rainforest in Costa Rica. VI Country Report for the CBD. Bosque Vivo Costa Rica: Proyecto Osa Page 5 of 12 According to recent studies, it is estimated that, on average, tropical rainforests generate ecosystem services valued at 12,800 USD/ha/year (Figure 4), where hydroelectric energy, recreation, the provision of raw materials, and the prevention of erosion are the four most valuable services (SINAC-CINPE-PNUD-GEF, 2017, available in the VI Country Report for the CBD). Hábitat de cria Control biológico Polinización Agua Madera Recreación/Turismo -500 500 1500 2500 3500 Valor SE (US$/ha(año) Figure 4. Average value of ecosystem services provided by the tropical rainforest. Based on the “Proyecto Humedales SINAC-CINPE-PNUD-GEF”, 2017. Source: VI Country Report for the CBD. In relation to endemic species, several studies have demonstrated that Costa Rica has four zones with a high endemism index: Cocos Island, Golfo Dulce, Central Pacific and the higher areas of the Central and Talamanca mountain ranges (MINAE-SINAC-CONAGEBIO-FONAFIFO, 2018). In terms of endemism of forest species, there appears to be predominance in the Osa Peninsula, Guanacaste mountain range, Central Volcanic mountain range, Talamanca mountain range, and Caribbean wetlands (MINAE- CONAGEBIO-SINAC, 2012). Among the fauna that is of special interest are Jaguars (Pantera onca). A recent study concluded that this species is mainly located within Protected Wildlife Areas (74% of all records), and in a lesser quantity, in the boundaries and outside of such Protected Wildlife Areas (26% of all records). Although Jaguars are severely threatened due to hunting, the loss of habitat and the disappearance of prey species, in the Osa Peninsula there are stable populations of 30 to 50 specimens that move around the Corcovado National Park to other protected areas in the peninsula (Kappelle, M., 2016. Costa Rican ecosystems: Bosque Vivo Costa